Chinese table tennis player Fan Zhendong serves the ball in the men's team event against Qatar at the Asian Table Tennis Championships in Pyeongchang, South Korea on September 3, 2023. Team China won 3-0. Photo: VCG

China's leading table tennis star Fan Zhendong took to his personal social media on Monday to urge fans to stop violating his privacy, and he reserved his right to resort to legal means if necessary.

The Tokyo Olympic silver medalist said on his X-like Weibo account that someone has allegedly disseminated his personal ID number on the internet, seriously violating his rights to privacy and reputation as a citizen.

"Some even used my ID number to find my personal phone number and harassed and insulted me, causing significant psychological harm to my family members, as several numbers registered under my ID were used by my family, said the 27-year-old who is gearing up for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.

Fan cautioned that the internet is not beyond the law, and there is no umbrella of protection for fandom culture. "If they continue to cross the red line, I will gather evidence and report it to police when I get home," he said.

In February, during the national table tennis team's closed-door training, Liu Guoliang, chairman of the Chinese Table Tennis Association, alerted the national team players to the detrimental impact of the toxic idolization and called for a joint effort to resist negative fandom culture.

During the two sessions, Yang Yang, China's first Winter Olympic champion and a current member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), warned about the dangers of athletes experiencing excessive scrutiny and pressure resulting from extreme idolization, highlighting the potential adverse effects on mental health. 

As a member of the International Olympic Committee, Yang urged for the enforcement of strong regulations on online platforms and the fight against cyber-bullying to protect the rights of athletes and maintain a positive online atmosphere. 

With a few months left until the Paris Olympics, Yang emphasized the necessity of tackling the issues arising from idolization culture to ensure athletes can perform at their best. 

Recently, the national table tennis team and short track speed skating team have been targets of online harassment. Both sports authorities have implemented policies to combat cyber-bullying, while athletes from these disciplines have expressed their disapproval of extreme idolization.

Extreme behaviors, such as online harassment and personal attack, not only infringe upon the rights of athletes but also undermine the spirit of sportsmanship and fair competition. The excessive attention could disrupt their training schedules and personal lives, consequently impacting their performance on the international stage, according to Yang.

Current World No 1 table tennis player Wang Chuqin also called fans to resist paparazzi-like behavior and respect the privacy of athletes after he was closely trailed by someone filming him at the airport in October. 

In April of 2023, when Fan Zhendong prepared for a World Table Tennis tournament held in Xinxiang, Central China's Henan Province, he posted a statement on social media revealing that a woman had stalked him for several days, identified his hotel room, obtained his room card through hotel reception, and later entered his room without authorization while he was out. Fan eventually reported the woman to police.

In September 2021, the Chinese Olympic Committee issued a statement emphasizing the need to stop the spread of fandom culture within the sports community and calling on Chinese athletes not to organize or participate in fan communities or initiate related discussions.